William Cowper (1731-1800)

Delia, th' unkindest girl on earth

Delia, th' unkindest girl on earth,

Courtly love request

Hair-taking was a romantic ritual in 18th-century poetry. Requesting a lock of hair signals serious romantic intent.

When I besought the fair,
That favour of intrinsic worth,
A ringlet of her hair, -
Refus'd that instant to comply
With my absurd request,
For reasons she could specify,
Some twenty score at least.
Trust me, my dear, however odd
It may appear to say,
I sought it merely to defraud

Defensive poetic strategy

Cowper claims he wants the hair for preservation, not sentiment—a witty reversal of romantic convention.

Thy spoiler of his prey.
Yet when its sister locks shall fade,
As quickly fade they must,
When all their beauties are decay'd,
Their gloss, their colour, lost,
Ah then! if haply to my share
Some slender pittance fall,
If I but gain one single hair,
Nor age usurp them all; -
When you behold it still as sleek,
As lovely to the view,
As when it left thy snowy neck -

Metaphorical landscape

'Eden' suggests the hair's origin is pure and paradisical—a sexualized but delicate metaphor.

That Eden where it grew -
Then shall my Delia's self declare,
That I profess'd the truth,
And have preserv'd my little share
In everlasting youth.

Classical preservation trope

Poets often use hair as a symbol of immortality. Here, the hair becomes a defense against time's decay.

Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Romantic Wit and Time's Passage

This poem operates as a rhetorical seduction, where Cowper transforms a rejected request into a sophisticated argument about memory and preservation.

Cowper uses neoclassical wit to subvert romantic conventions. By claiming he wants the hair to 'defraud' time rather than as a lover's token, he creates a playful intellectual game that simultaneously mocks and participates in courtly love traditions.

Poetic Immortality

[CONTEXT: 18th-century poets were obsessed with how art could resist mortality.] Cowper turns a simple hair into a metaphysical object that can transcend physical decay.

The poem's structure—moving from rejection to potential future vindication—suggests that poetry itself is a form of preservation, where even a single hair can become a testament to enduring beauty.